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Lynne Kotranski, PhD, Diana Levengood, BA, Kristin Minot, MS, and Ilisa Stalberg, MSS, MLSP. Research and Evaluation, Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, 260 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, (215) 985-2552, lynne@phmc.org
The purpose of this presentation is to examine patterns of dental care utilization among urban and suburban adult smokers and non-smokers and to assess opportunities for cessation/prevention messages about tobacco use. The data for this presentation are from a 2002 community-based survey of over 10,000 households in Southeastern Pennsylvania, including the City of Philadelphia and the four surrounding suburban counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery. The survey collected a wide variety of information on health status, health promotion/disease prevention, health care utilization, health insurance coverage, and socio-demographic characteristics of residents. Interviews were conducted with 10,163 adults 18 years of age and older and 3,313 children under 18 (with child-proxies). This presentation focuses on all adults 18+. The results of the analysis conducted to date show that young adults, African Americans, persons with incomes below the poverty level, and adults completing high school or less were more likely to smoke. While 69.7% of all adults had a dental visit in the past year, smokers were significantly less likely to have a visit (54.9%) compared to non-smokers (70.7%). Of those adults who did have a dental visit, smokers were more likely to be younger, African American, uninsured and/or without dental coverage compared to nonsmokers visiting the dentist. These findings show that a sizeable percentage of adult smokers do have annual dental visits and that tobacco cessation information and education can be targeted to subgroups within this population.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Oral Health, Tobacco
Related Web page: www.phmc.org/chdb
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.